On Saturday, I picked Suzie, Andy, Nigel and Sweder at the airport. Oddly enough, I met them outside the airport waiting for me. Apparently, the plane arrived some minutes before it was supposed to. Besides, I thought it would take them some time to get their luggage. We were lucky it was sunny since the previous days it had been raining a lot. We decided to have breakfast at a café by the seafront at Costacabana, a neighbourhood near the airport. Unfortunately, they did not have tortilla de patatas ( Spanish omelette ) so they had some coffee, orange juice and two slices of cheese toast while I had a cup of poleo ( sort of herbal tea ) and two tomato slices of toast with olive oil. After that, I took them to the lighthouse in Cabo de Gata along a winding road that reminded Sweder of the Two oceans marathon route in South Africa. We enjoyed the landscape especially Nigel since he could notice better the volcanic origin of the rocks and took some photos. As they were very tired after getting up so early, they suggested going back to the hotel instead of going to another place uphill where we could see the other side of the bay near San José. Next year, I´ll take you there if you like.
In the evening, I picked them up at the hotel at 7 o´clock and went to the stadium to pick up the race number, chip and bag of goodies. There were a T-shirt, some leaflets, a magazine, a pack of CASI tomatoes, a local co-op, a ATLETA card, etc. We had to go back to the girls who gave us the bag to ask for the ticket for the pasta dinner. There, we met Carmen, a friend of mine who is also a teacher of English with her little son, Paquito and Encarna, who had registered for the half marathon but she finally decided to take part in the 10 km race instead and her son Adrián. After a few telephone calls from PaulK, who had got lost in the motorway, I saw him and his wife appear. So, the whole runningcommentary team taking part in the race were together. After having a look at some stands at the expo we went to the queue to have dinner at the VIP room at the stadium with a magnificent view of the football pitch. As Carmen and Encarna had a ticket for the second shift, they told me to have dinner with the forumites and I told them that I would be with them after leaving them at the airport. We had a very good time having lunch and talking about our aims for the race and this year. When we were going out, we also met Guillermo, with whom I have taken part in some competitions and he would take part at the half the following day as well although he had been ill for a few weeks without being able to train much.
After saying goodbye to PaulK and his wife who were going back to their home in the Albox area and leaving the others at the hotel. It had started raining. I came back to the stadium where Carmen, Encarna and their sons and Guillermo were having dinner. I met another runner who was having dinner at the same table. His name was Pedro and he came from the province of Alicante. He had taken part at Santa Pola half the previous weekend but he took it easy since he was accompanying his brother. He liked mountain biking and running and his aim was to do this half under 1 hour 45 minutes. After wishing each other good luck the following day, we left the stadium. It was raining a lot. Would it be rainy the next day?
( to be continued )
10th Almería half marathon. 28th January 2007
